In this episode Shahriar reviews the Siglent SDM3055A (SDM3055) 5.5-Digit Multimeter. After a brief look at the instrument’s datasheet, a full teardown is presented. The instrument utilizes a two-board design and a large LCD screen. The SDM3055A provides a comprehensive set of measurements including capacitance as well as various graphing capabilities including histogram, trend and bar graphs. USB and LAN connections are standard and a USB-GPIB can also be purchased. The performance of the instrument is verified through experiments with various functions and setups.

This is part 2 of the building a function generator. We cover the output stage and discuss some changes to the original design. Finally, we build the project in to a case and test.
Below are the links to the latest main schematic diagram and a second file for the Display and Arduino schematic.

Protection of Intellectual Property is a major issue as industrial systems become increasingly more interconnected. According to Bartol Filipovic, head of the Product Protection and Industrial Security department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Research “Most companies have no idea just how easy it is to copy their products, encrypted software is not enough to protect standard products or machine code. The software must be ideally stored inside protected hardware.”

Infineon has developed a broad range of semiconductor technologies to counter these growing security threats. The OPTIGA Trust E SLS32AIA hardware security device provides a cost effective solution for high value goods. It forms part of the OPTIGA™ Trust family high-security solution for industrial automation systems, smart homes, consumer and medical devices. The OPTIGA™ Trust E provides enhanced protection of services, business models and user experience. Based on its 1-way authentication mechanism, it uniquely identifies objects and provides protection of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) networks.

For many applications that require power-supply currents of a few amperes or less, three-terminal adjustable-output linear voltage regulators, such as National Semiconductor’s LM317, offer ease of use, low cost, and full on-chip overload protection. The addition of a few components can provide a three-terminal regulator with high-speed short-circuit current limiting for improved reliability. The current limiter protects the regulator from damage by holding the maximum output current at a constant level, IMAX, that doesn’t damage the regulator (Reference 1).

Most engineers know that they can use an inexpensive, three-terminal adjustable regulator, such as Fairchild Semiconductor’s LM317, as an adjustable regulator to only some necessary value of voltage, such as 36 or 3V. This value cannot be less than 1.25V without employing other approaches, however. The devices’ inner reference voltage is 1.25V, and their output voltage accordingly cannot be less than this value without potential bias (Reference 1). One way to solve this problem is to use a reference-voltage source based on two diodes (Reference 2).

An exotic material called gallium nitride (GaN) is poised to become the next semiconductor for power electronics, enabling much higher efficiency than silicon.

In 2013, the Department of Energy (DOE) dedicated approximately half of a $140 million research institute for power electronics to GaN research, citing its potential to reduce worldwide energy consumption. Now MIT spinout Cambridge Electronics Inc. (CEI) has announced a line of GaN transistors and power electronic circuits that promise to cut energy usage in data centers, electric cars, and consumer devices by 10 to 20 percent worldwide by 2025.

Power electronics is a ubiquitous technology used to convert electricity to higher or lower voltages and different currents—such as in a laptop’s power adapter, or in electric substations that convert voltages and distribute electricity to consumers. Many of these power-electronics systems rely on silicon transistors that switch on and off to regulate voltage but, due to speed and resistance constraints, waste energy as heat.

Now it’s about time to talk also about what many of you has asked for: DIMMING!
It’s a total different story, little bit complicated but, as you will see, not so hard to understand.

General considerations:
There are several types of dimmers generally available. These are used for resistive, and inductive loads, such as incandescent,cold cathode and low voltage (inductive) lamp sources. Note that not all electronic transformers used for low voltage lamps are suitable for dimming by Triac or Thyristors dimmers. In case of Thyristors you need 2 of them as Thyristor is a Unidirectional device and because AC power flows in both directions!

New series of Sunon fans with IP68 protection brings reliability even to conditions, where a usual fan doesn´t withstand too long…

Still more noise and vibrations and in extreme case even a total malfunction – this is a typical “end” of the fan after a long-time operation in a dusty or corrosive environment. In a usual dry and relatively clean environment, this scenario is not that dramatic and high-quality fans hold on to work for many years without problems. However, it can be also said, that common industrial environment is quite far from an ideal = clean one.

So, which fan to use?

The first good advice might be to use a quality fan, for example from companies Sunon or EBM-Papst. Company Sunon this time declares, that they shifted a level of lifetime and durability a step higher… They “wrapped” all the motor into a „high-tech“ coating and incorporated a mechanism for automatic dust removal from a motor part.

And the result?

The fan works reliably even after a 60 minute ingress into water and into 1m depth. That´s only a small example demonstrating features of the new series with IP68 protection. New series carry GExxxx or GFxxxx marking and they´re available in three sizes – 80x80x25mm, 80x80x38mm and 90x90x25mm. All types are equipped by two ball bearings.
On stock we have types – GF80251B1-AE9 ( 80×25 12VDC 3,96W 101,9m3/h) and GE80252B1-AE9 ( 80×25 24VDC 4,8W 101,9m3/h). Upon request we´re able to supply you also other types.

This design of acoustic sound receiver features low power operational amplifier. It has rail-to-rail input/output and 0.85mA supply current per amplifier. It uses piezo speaker as its microphone that can be attached to easily due to its size and dimension.

The circuit is comprised of MCP6L91RT-E/OT 10 MHz, 850 µA operational amplifier that is used to amplify the sound signal. The low-pass filter is used to allow low frequency signal to pass while attenuating high frequency signal or above cut-off frequency of the system to prevent distortions and unnecessary signal. The piezo speaker is used as a microphone or a sound receiver in this circuit. Its size and dimensions is well suited for this application.

The circuit is suitable for different types of acoustic guitar. Since it can be attached easily, the old and other traditional instruments can be developed and modified so that it can continue its service even for the digital era. It can be interfaced to different applications which is not limited to musical instrument.